The present invention is directed towards improvements in fiber fill material which is commonly referred to as fiber balls.
There have been many attempts to create an insulation or fill material which is an acceptable substitute for down. Polyester fiber fill is one of them and has achieved wide spread commercial acceptance as fill material for pillows, bedding, apparel and furnishings, among other things. Such fill may take on various forms such as staple fibers of various sizes, hollow and solid fibers, and crimped fibers, among others. Various shapes have also been suggested such as spheres (U.S. Pat. No. 4,065,599), spheres with projecting fibers to allow for interlocking (U.S. Pat. No. 4,820,574), crimped bundles of fibers (U.S. Pat. No. 4,418,103), assemblies of looped fibers (U.S. Pat. No. 4,555,421), rolls of fibers, bails, bundles and pin cushion configurations (U.S. Pat. No. 3,892,909), just to mention a few. In addition, clusters of fibers formed from shredded batt, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,329,051 entitled xe2x80x9cBlowable Insulation Clustersxe2x80x9d, and such clusters in an admixture with natural fibers such as down, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,329,052 entitled xe2x80x9cBlowable Insulationxe2x80x9d, have been found particularly suitable as insulation/fill material. What has also been shown to provide an excellent insulation fill material in the form of batt or clusters is a mixture of macrofibers and microfibers as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,992,326 entitled xe2x80x9cSynthetic Downxe2x80x9d. Further, the compositions of insulation/fill material disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,588,635 and 5,043,207, have also been found well suited as substitute for natural insulation.
Various ways of creating fiber fill or fiber balls have been suggested in the aforesaid patents. Others ways include that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,851,665 which describes point bonding of tows of fibers. Another way, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,218,740 is to feed a uniform layer of staple fiber into a rotating cylinder covered with card clothing and rolling the fiber into rounded clusters which are removed by a special doffer screen. Others suggest blowing or air tumbling the fiber into a ball. (See e.g. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,618,531; 4,783,364; and 4,164,534.)
It has been suggested that there is a distinction between fiber balls and nubs (sometimes referred to as neps). (See e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 5,344,707.) The term nub typically refers to a small limp knot or speck in yarn or fabric or a snarl or tangle mass of fibers (Fairchild""s Dictionary of Textiles 1970 Edition). Nubs, it is stated, are typically produced on cards and contain a substantial amount of fibers with a strongly entangled nucleus that does not contribute to resiliency. Nubs, it is further said, do not have the bulk, resilience and durability required for filling applications (as distinct from fiber balls).
It is interesting to note that nubs during web or batt production are undesirable and attempts were made to avoid the occurrence of nubs during carding. (See e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 4,524,492.) As noted in U.S. Pat. No. 2,923,980 the production of nubs was a fortuitous event, since it occurred on a carding machine where the cylinder coating had deteriorated to the point that they could no longer produce the desired web or batt free from small nubs. Realizing the utility of nubs, machines for purposely creating them (typically by way a of modified carding machine) were developed, such as that disclosed in the immediately aforesaid patent.
It is the principal object of the invention to provide for a fiber ball that has good physical integrity whilst being resilient and durable.
It is a further object of the invention to create a fiber ball that provides for good insulation while being soft to the touch.
A yet further object of the invention is to provide for a means of creating such fiber balls that does not involve expensive and complicated modifications to existing machinery.
A still further object of the invention is to provide such fiber balls in an admixture with other material, which can be either natural or synthetic.
These and other objects and advantages are provided by the present invention. In this regard the present invention envisions the use of a standard carding machine having certain modifications to create fiber balls made from micro denier polyester fibers. Such modifications do not necessitate the structural changing of the machine elements. Rather, it basically involves reversing the direction of rotation of some of its elements and their clothing. What occurs during production is that the fibers are physically rolled and entangled into balls. This provides for superior integrity, resiliency and durability. In addition, it has been found that the use of micro denier polyester fibers results in warmer, softer insulation or filling. It is also envisioned that the fiber balls so formed may be mixed with natural or synthetic fibers to suit a particular application.